She even LOOKs so very soft.

She is GORGEOUS! You’re a lucky person to have such beautiful loving friends!

oh god, I loved that cat.

so silky soft! Beautiful girl.

Warm laps and scritches. Life is good.

darker than the rest of them?

Looks like she has the "mackerel tabby" stripe pattern. My last tabby (a ginger) had the "classic tabby" stripe pattern, aka "blotched tabby." The mackerel pattern is thin stripes that run vertically down the sides of the cat, either broken or unbroken lines. The classic pattern has swirls on the sides like a bull"s eye target.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tabby_cat

I had a much beloved orange classic tabby, the kind with the swirly stripes on the side. I used to say he had the prettiest stripes. I think we say the same thing because we both loved our cats so much.